ことができる
“You can do it” – Rob Schneider
Think about the actions you can do. What are they? Can you swim? Can you eat? I bet there’s quite a few things you can do, and some things you can’t. No matter, we’ll cover them both.
First let’s look at できる. できる is a strange verb, I think. It means “able to do.” With the grammar ことができる you’re saying “can do the action.” What action? Well, just think of it in terms of the nominalizer の you just learned. Any action will do. Let’s start super simple where the action is the action itself.
a たべる こと が できる。
(I) can (do the action of) eating / I can eat.
a およぐ こと が できる。
(I) can (do the action of) swimming / I can swim.
What about things you can’t do? That’s easy too. できる just goes negative, because the opposite of “can do” (できる) is “can’t do” (できない).
a のむ こと が できない。
(I) can’t (do the action of) drinking / I can’t drink.
a この おんがく を きく こと が できません!
I can’t listen to this music!
Notice how the last one was formal? できる → できます, if you want to make it formal like that.
So tell me with the following things – can you do them? Or can you not do them? Say them out loud and type / write it out if it help you.
a すし を たべる こと が できる？
a にほんご を ならう こと が できる？
a りょうり する こと が できますか？
On the practice page you’ll come up with some of your own ことができる and ことができない sentences to practice. For now, though, I want you to try to get as much of this in your brain and then move on. We have more こと patterns to learn!